This invention relates to apparatus for laying flexible tubing and is particularly suited for laying such tubing in conjunction with road construction or maintenance operations.
Most modern highways have traffic carrying lanes formed of concrete or the like and an adjacent asphalt shoulder. Experience has shown that frequently water will penetrate the interface of the concrete and the asphalt and enter the subbase upon which the concrete and the asphalt are carried. After prolonged periods of time, the subbase will be eroded in such areas, undermining support for the concrete and/or asphalt. This, in turn, results in cracking or even collapse of the road components.
It has been determined that such erosion, and the deleterious effects caused thereby, can be greatly minimized by providing means for draining water flowing through the concrete-asphalt interface by laying drain tile below the concrete-asphalt interface, which drain tile extends longitudinally of the roadway. At the points along the length of the drain tile, drain spurs extend transversely of the roadway to an adjacent ditch of the like. However, the use of such drain tile has been at a relatively low level due to the considerable expense of installation and the rather strong possibility of improper installation if flexible drain tile is utilized.
For example, when flexible tile is used, care must be taken so as not to partially or wholly collapse the tile when fill is placed over the tile which would obstruct the flow of the water to be drained through the tile. Moreover, adequate compaction of the fill at the time it is placed over the tile has been difficult to achieve, with the result that at some later date, it will compact further over a period of time which will result in settling of the overlying pavement.
Moreover, the operations heretofore required to adequately and properly install tile in such instances have been very time-consuming, requiring a considerable number of different pieces of equipment as well as several operators to run each piece of equipment.